Johannesburg - The rand firmed slightly against the dollar
on Tuesday, lifted by positive Chinese manufacturing data that boosted the
outlook for commodities exporters.
The rand was up 0.17% against the greenback at 06:18 GMT, trading
at R7.6475 against the dollar. It closed on Monday in New York R7.65.
“The dollar has come back a little bit weaker across the
board. There was some positive PMI (purchasing managers' index) data out of China which did signify that
there is still support for commodity markets,” said Brigid Taylor, head of institutional sales at Nedbank in Johannesburg.
“For now we looking to buy dips below R7.55. Markets are
very thin ahead of the Easter weekend, and that’s likely to persist until next
week,” she said.
Trading volumes are expected to be moderate ahead of Easter,
with traders taking a holiday on Good Friday and returning on Tuesday next week.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers is due
to release March new vehicle sales data at 09:00 GMT, while Treasury plans to
auction R2.1bn of its 2018, 2036 and 2031 bonds.
Bond yields inched up, with the yield on the 2015 issue up
half a basis point to 6.68% and that on the 2026 issue up by the same margin to
8.355%.
On the bourse, the JSE’s blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] March futures contract was up 0.32% before the 07:00 GMT start of trade, pointing to a positive start.